


The Fall and Rise of Hal Jordan

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-05-23
Updated: 2007-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-07 23:14:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/754230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Does what it says on the tin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fall and Rise of Hal Jordan

**Author's Note:**

> All lyrics from "Fallen" by Sarah McLachlan.
> 
> Inspired by "Redemption" created by cephiedvariable on Livejournal. I can't find a current link to the vid, which makes me cry, as it is beautiful.

_Heaven bent to take my hand; And lead me through the fire  
Be the long awaited answer; To a long and painful fight _

It was nothing like he thought it should be. Death, his practical mind had told him…was to become nothing more than the legacy you had lived, in minds and hearts willing to remember you.

Not this…not the cloying, almost aware, not quite there feeling.

That voice, whispering at first, gradually gathering strength. Offering him what he needed. Offering him the chance to prove he had refound his soul, that he knew just who he was.

He was a hero. And if that meant he had to submit to the will of a true deity, to be that deity's tool…he could prove his worth.

He'd it done for years, to little blue men who paid scant more attention than this God did.

_Truth be told I've tried my best; But somewhere along the way  
I got caught up in all there was to offer; And the cost was so much more than I could bear _

It had seemed such a small thing to ask, for all that he had done, for the injustice of it all. One cosmic wrong righted in the blink of an eye. They had the power…he had the power to do it for a fraction of time measured too small to be of note, but they….

To tell him no…they really should have known the price that would entail. He was Hal Jordan, strongest willed Lantern in the history of the Corps.

That's what he told himself, looking back over the lives he had stolen in his quest to restore what he saw as his.

_Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low; I have messed up   
Better I should know; So don't come round here   
And tell me I told you so... _

They tried. Each one that had ever meant a thing. He would not hear, could not listen. And then there were the dead…the ones who began his mad quest, and the ones who fell in completing it.

He would be hard pressed to decide the moment he knew just how badly he had fallen.

Was it when Ollie fired that shot? Or when he felt Bruce's complete rejection of him months later? Maybe, just maybe, it took the kid Lantern, a relative stranger to him, to make that truly known to him.

_We all begin with good intent; Love was raw and young  
We believed that we could change ourselves; The past could be undone   
But we carry on our backs the burden; Time always reveals   
The lonely light of morning; The wound that would not heal   
It's the bitter taste of losing everything; That I have held so dear. _

All he had ever wished was to fly. The hero part came later, when fate and chance conspired to bring him to Abin Sur's side. He had reached deep within, and answered that call, making friends and enemies alike.

When he was accused of being blind, he had opened his eyes to worlds different than he had ever known. He gave and gave, only faltering here and there, always bolstered by his friends.

Until the day came when no friend could share the view from his place in the world. He chose, and kept choosing, walking a path that could not be washed clean in the ambiance of emerald light.

Friend and foe, fallen at his feet. Allies, left to the best chances of their own will and bereft of power. A world envisioned, where all would be right, where the wrongs would never have existed.

Carol. Ollie. Tom. Barry. His friends. His family. All safe…

A complete illusion, crafted by an ego twisted up in grief and pain…stopped by a simple shaft of wood and metal, by the love of a friend who knew insanity when he saw it.

Hal would endure the loss, but only because there was no other way. Having chosen wrong, he would walk the dark path, and try to do what he could to ease the burden on them all.

_Heaven bent to take my hand; Nowhere left to turn  
I'm lost to those I thought were friends; To everyone I know   
Oh they turned their heads embarrassed; Pretend that they don't see   
But it's one missed step; You'll slip before you know it   
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed _

One last call on the oath, one last stand. Thoughts of all gone before, and what he does here, this day, to save what is left of what he held dear.

The feel of her under his arm, the press of her lips.

The sense of knowing they had done well, checking each other after the battles.

The fishing…oh, he almost wished he would be able to see it, when they finally found Ollie.

"In brightest day, in blackest night…."

`~`~`~`~`

…that voice, calling him to take up his path, to find the redemption as a tool of vengeance…it could not be denied.


End file.
